Contemporary British Fiction

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 6
• Convenor: to be confirmed
• Assessment: to be confirmed

In this module we pursue key aspects of the fiction produced in Britain since 1979. We will look at the different forms and styles adopted, and also consider the political and cultural contexts to which texts respond. We will read the works of some of the most prominent authors of the era:

Term 1

• 1980s: Martin Amis, Money
• 1990s: Zadie Smith, White Teeth
• 2000s: Gordon Burn, Born Yesterday: The Novel as News

Term 2

• Pat Barker, Regeneration
• A S Byatt, Possession
• Michele Roberts, Daughters of the House
• W G Sebald, The Emigrants
• Graham Swift, Waterland

By the end of this module, you will have:

• been introduced to literature since 1979
• addressed questions of how literature approaches 'contemporary' issues
• an understanding of contemporary literature through historical, aesthetic and theoretical frameworks.